Planning Directions Inc. Invests $502,000 in WSFS Financial Corporation $WSFS

Planning Directions Inc. bought a new stake in WSFS Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:WSFS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 6,544 shares of the bank’s stock, valued at approximately $502,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in WSFS Financial during the 2nd quarter worth $576,695,000. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in WSFS Financial by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 2,465,792 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $136,210,000 after buying an additional 32,423 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in WSFS Financial by 6.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,066,591 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,918,000 after buying an additional 60,931 shares during the last quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP grew its stake in shares of WSFS Financial by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Cooke & Bieler LP now owns 1,055,902 shares of the bank’s stock valued at $58,328,000 after acquiring an additional 23,946 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pzena Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of WSFS Financial during the second quarter valued at about $68,174,000. 88.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on WSFS Financial from $83.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of WSFS Financial in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. UBS Group set a $76.00 price objective on WSFS Financial in a report on Monday, April 27th. DA Davidson set a $83.00 price objective on WSFS Financial and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of WSFS Financial in a research report on Friday, June 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.07.

Insider Activity at WSFS Financial

In other news, EVP Shari Kruzinski sold 3,500 shares of WSFS Financial stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.74, for a total value of $286,090.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 15,207 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,243,020.18. This trade represents a 18.71% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Rodger Levenson sold 65,446 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.11, for a total value of $4,850,203.06. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 186,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,790,981.68. This trade represents a 26.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 1.10% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

WSFS Financial Stock Performance

Shares of WSFS Financial stock opened at $81.14 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.15 billion, a PE ratio of 13.57 and a beta of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $71.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 0.84. WSFS Financial Corporation has a 1 year low of $49.92 and a 1 year high of $82.94.

WSFS Financial (NASDAQ:WSFS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The bank reported $1.66 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.50 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $284.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $278.41 million. WSFS Financial had a net margin of 23.34% and a return on equity of 11.71%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 5.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.27 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that WSFS Financial Corporation will post 6.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

WSFS Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 21st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 7th. WSFS Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 13.38%.

WSFS Financial Company Profile

WSFS Financial Corporation is the bank holding company for WSFS Bank, a regional financial institution headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware. The company traces its roots to the Safe Deposit & Trust Company, founded in 1832, and formally organized as WSFS Financial in the mid-1980s. Over its long history, WSFS has grown through a combination of organic expansion and selective acquisitions to serve a broad base of individual, commercial and institutional clients.

WSFS Bank offers a full suite of banking and financial services, including retail and commercial deposit accounts, commercial and industrial lending, real estate financing, and treasury management solutions.